As Mahdi utters his warning the lone rat suddenly scampers from the whole very quickly. Before your eyes the rat transforms into a filthy human boy dressed in tatters of worn clothing, some of which look gnoll in their fashion. He yells frantically.
"No, no. Don't go back there. It's a trap."
Mahdi frowns when the rat becomes... a ragtag child? What in all blazes?
He strides forward to the boy and grabs at his arm. "Calm yourself and speak sense-- if you are truly a child, we won't harm you, but by this point I am unsure of nothing my eyes see! Say whatever it is you keeping to yourself about this damned mound, and what manner of trap it might be."
The boy calms, but only a bit. Though he shows Mahdi or anyone else any sign up ill intent, he slowly moves away from the mound - back toward the Mill - as he responds. As he finishes speaking you can hear doubt creep into his voice.
"The floating head. Or at least that's what the gnolls call it. I'm not sure what it's called. I hid from it in the hole and now I'm sure it's trying to trap me. Looking around. and maybe even all of you."
Pent bounds back to the group, and the newly transformed ratboy. "Whoa, that was a pretty nifty trick! You able to do that whenever the mood strikes you, or do you turn rat when you're scared, so you can hide in smaller holes? I'd imagine that's pretty useful, especially when you're trying to avoid Sarah's bright Shine at the height of Her day." Pent looks at Yeen a little curiously, wondering if the cat still thinks on rat while looking at boy.
"OH! What a picture in my head!! If you could teach that trick to Ami here, then we could have a rat that rides a cat!! At least until the cat figures out it's being ridden, and be rid of its rider in a playful game of cat-and-rat!! Ami, Ami!!! You really should!! Please?!" Pent loads his crossbow all the while he outlines grand plans.
"So... trap?"
Not sure what to do, Aldebert talks to the voice behind the mound while standing his ground nearly behind the mound waiting for Mahdi to finish his conversation.
"So, er, it looks like a little boy. What do we have to fear from him? Is he some dangerous spell caster? Why should I fear him?" Aldebert chuckles at the thought, though a part of him wonders...
Ami and Yeen race around the mound, trying to find the source of the evil.
Ami and Yeen look and sniff for the evil.
Perception
Kul squints his eyes looking at the child, as if doing so might help him penetrate the disguise the child wears.
"Show us your true self, deceiver! I can understand the need to deal with this floating head of the gnolls, but I will not be manipulated into doing so by perhaps a worse evil. If you wish our help, we need honesty from you... and that starts with who you are."
"He does that well, penetrating gaze like that, hard for anyone to resist telling the truth in its mighty presence, yeah. Like the time I slipped a piece of lard into the crack of that merchant traveling with us, all high and mighty, that one thought he was. When the lard got to melting, oh the shifting in his saddle!! Must have thought he'd let it run, but he never said anything. His face showed it for true, though." Pent's eyebrows raise when he realizes he's spoken out loud.
"I mislike all of this," Mahdi growls. "A shapeshifting child, and... Aldebert, what on earth are you talking to?"
As Ami and Yeen race about the mound, it is clear that Yeen has piked up the scent of something around the mound. The boy continues to talk, a bit more calmly now that he is further from the mound.
"Yes, I can turn into a rat. It's a part of who I am. My true self you say? I have three forms, you've seen two. Beware, the third may disturb you."
With that the boy's shape shifts slightly. Though he stays about his same size, his body takes on rat like characteristics, a fine fur covers him and the muscle on his legs and arms seem to thin. He looks a bit quicker on his feet as he begins moving again - away from the mound.
Pent looks back and forth amongst his friends, trying to sort out the conversations he visually represents to himself as tangles of yarn located just behind his eyes.
"So, the rat is a boy, the boy is a half-rat, and the half-rat is a rat. I got that right, right? So, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that we don't trust the boy-half-rat, all by his lonesome out here, and uncomfortably close to our newly secured digs in Kelmarane. Why don't we acquaint him with a prison cell in the Battle Market, until we can sort this all out, eh? I know I'd prefer that. Nothing personal, HalfRatBoy."
Hearing Pent's suggestion the boy's calm is shattered.
"No no. Please don't trap me for him. In a cell I would be easy for the floating head to catch."
"You know, when I haven't taken a piss in awhile, my eyeballs start to float, and when I haven't eaten in awhile, my head starts to float, too. I think you just need to drink some water and eat some food, and stop talking about floating heads, you know, since none of us have seen what you keep babbling about." Pent's light-hearted eyebrows begin to turn surly.
"I mislike all of this," Mahdi growls. "A shapeshifting child, and... Aldebert, what on earth are you talking to?"
"Well, if the boy is to be believed, I'm talking to a floating head. However, if the floating head is to be believed the boy is dangerous and a threat to us, and our group. My friend over here is invisible so it's kinda hard to tell what's going on."
He turns back to the invisible creature. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Aldebert moves away from the mound a little so he can see the boy. Assuming he's within range, he'll Detect Evil on the boy. If he's too far away, he'll close first.
Ami and Yeen continue to hunt.
Kul remains perplexed and waits to be told what to do.
As Ami and Yeen race about the mound, it is clear that Yeen has picked up the scent of something around the mound.
The boy only continues to look increasingly terrified as Pent jests about the floating head being anything other than a real source of danger.
"I would sooner trust a boy-- or rat-- that I can see than an invisible force that refuses to make itself heard to all of us, and instead whispers of supposed threats to us one at a time," Mahdi says shortly. "Boy, make no moves and cast no spells, or you will be testing our ability to build rat-traps. Alde, show me where you are hearing this 'voice' from."
"Show yourself, unseen speaker, or be judged a liar!" Mahdi moves around the mind to follow Alde, if Alder leads.
Aldebert does indeed show Mahdi where the voice seemed to be coming from. "Over here.", he gestures behind the mound.
He continues to concentrate on the evil, also hoping to narrow it down to a rough location if possible.
Ami stops Yeen when the scent is recognized, going back over his tracks to find the origin.
"C'mon Yeen...do you smell something? Show me where."
They backtrack...looking. If they can see or communicate with Aldebert, they will...pointing to where things might be.
Yeenoghu slows, twisting back upon the tracks. His tail fluffs and twitches as he gives a plaintive mewl at the same place again and again.
Yeen seems hesitant to approach too closely to the sent.
Pent considers the ratboy, but easily gets distracted as Mahdi and Aldi start to focus their attention elsewhere. He looks to Kul, and shrugs with a what-are-ya-going-to-do expression. When he becomes aware that something else is here, communicating with him directly now, Pent freezes in place, and debates a more aggessive tactic.
Ami calls to his brother while egging on Yeen.
"Keep sniffing, Yeen! We'll find it! Just show me where."
Perception - Ami
Perception - Yeen
Ami tries to get a general location/direction from Yeen so he can point it out.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeen tries to do as he's told but some fluffy golden thing keeps flicking into his peripheral vision. Finally, he pounces on it, nearly catching it even as some terrible beast tries to bite his own luscious tail. The distraction is terrible and he is beset on all sides.
Quiet down. It'll all become clear here in a second. There's a bodiless voice out here talking, who's to say it's not that head without a body trying to make us all jumpy and all? Don't be so quick to judge.
That's no excuse to attack something preemptively. The boy seems genuine enough, and like Maddie said, we can see him. So, just keep watching him, alright?
Pent keeps his eyes peeled.
"I have given you fair warning that if you remained unseen, you would be judged a liar," Mahdi says impatiently. "Kul-- watch the boy, and stop him should he attack. As for our unseen friend--"
As the dust spreads an outline of a humanoid outline appears, which everyone quickly realizes is an illusion. The outline appears to begin to falter as everyone hear's a voice speak.
"What have you done? I was trying to help you. Now the evil wizard will see me."
Kul speaks up.
"The boy made motions with his hands. I think he's cast a spell."
No one else notices the boy making motions.
Mahdi (normal)
Aldebert
Pent (low-light)
Amiamble (normal)
Yeenoghu (low-light)
Kul (normal)
DDS:
Mahdi's head snaps to the boy when he hears Kul speak... or when he hears Kul's voice, anyway...
"I said to stop him should he try to attack! Don't let him make gestures! Boy--" his eyes narrow as he looks at the child and sees no hand-waving. He again casts his spell to detect magic.
"--I see no spells from him." "But there is plenty of enchantment around! Too much. And illusions of all manner. I want names and an explanation, and I want them now, or my next spell shall be fire, to burn the truth of this matter."
Surprise!
Kul screws up his face in confusion. Finally he gives out a small grunt and charges the boy-rat (). Just before making contact, Kul slides his grip in order to use only the flat of his falchion's blade.
"Gah! I'm knocking him out, we can sort this later with fewer variables."
And if wrong, and it was in fact Kul who actually said those words, then as a player I am not really cool with the GM putting words and actions into the mouth of a PC. I've played with Kul's player long enough to know that if Kul saw a suspicious person starting to make gestures, his character would probably interfere immediately, not just make observations on it. (Will, sorry if I'm overstepping my idea of what I think you would normally do.)
Basically, if Kul really did see gestures, Kul should have been allowed to act on it, and if Kul didn't see gestures and something is speaking for him, then Kul should get a chance to clearly relay that something is imitating his voice, and judging by Kul's post, I'm not 100% sure the player knows which of those two things happened.
If I'm wrong, if this was cleared previously in PM or something, that's fine, please ignore me, I'm just overanalyzing things.
The boy falls unconscious to the ground.
The voice speaks up again. "Very good. You have taken care of the evil wizard for now. I can help contain him as soon as I recover from your unprovoked attack."
Ami sighs as Yeen nearly throws him as the cat attacks his own tail.
"Focus, Good Boy! Focus! No time for chasing tails now!"
Ami and Yeen continue to search for whatever is causing the problems.
Perception (Ami)
Perception (Yeen)
Mahdi rubs at his forehead when Kul drops the boy with a resounding smack from the side of his blade. In truth, he supposes it's the simplest way of focusing on things.
His eyes track the moving source of magic as he maintains concentration on his spell.
"Will you? I think not. I trust you less than I do an unconscious urchin whose terror was far more convincing to me than your smooth words. If you truly claim to be on our side, then you have one last opportunity to show yourself-- I wonder what excuse will you give now for not doing so, given that the supposed 'evil wizard' is out cold?"
Yeen heads toward the mound and begins to search out an area to climb, trying desperately to follow the scent, which seems to now be somewhere near the top of the mound.
Pent listens hard to the inflection in the voice's, well, voice.
Watching Yeen, Pent moves closer to the sound of the voice as well.
Ami points to the top of the mound, moving closer with Yeen.
Perception (Ami)
Perception (Yeen)
The voice responds, "Calm yourself and this cat. I must concentrate to regain myself and in turn reveal myself as you've asked."
Mahdi (normal)
Aldebert
Pent (low-light)
Amiamble (normal)
Yeenoghu (low-light)
Kul (normal)
"Ah, a delaying tactic. No, I don't think that will satisfy me," Mahdi retorts, and lets loose with the blaze of fire from his fingers towards the concentration of magic, moving so as not to singe his colleagues.
Pent snorts loudly, then snuffles strongly to retract the line of mucus that almost escaped his nose hairs.
"Deceiver!!! You sneaky bastard, hoping we'll keep biting on your verbiage ruffage and think there's anything nutritious we could chew on!! " Pent quivers as he thinks on the power of words, and to what Kul was brought to do on the poor little ratboy.
"When we find you, we're going to silence your lies, swat them like flies buzzing 'round our heads, you, you...!!!" Pent huffs and huffs, then turns a little red in the face as his words jam like logs behind his teeth.
Pent raspberries as Mahdi sets fire to the hunt.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kul checks the child to ensure he isn't dying from the head wound:
He then takes a defensive stance over the fallen child's body, waiting and watching impatiently for the next threat.
Near the top of the mound the flame hits a bodiless monstrosity, which floats now amidst the fire unharmed. It's wild hair whips around six twisting horns, while a flat nose, a fanged mouth, and red glowing eyes complete it's terrifying visage.
"So you have discovered me. You've all been very amusing. Even harmed the pesky boy. And to think, he believed you would help him. I'm afraid I must leave you now."
Without another word the creature begins to fly further away.
Initiative ().
Mahdi
Aldebert
Pent
Amiamble (with Yeenoghu)
Kul
Round 1, Init 17
Kul drops his Falchion, draws his short bow, and shoots at the monstrous creature:
Kul watches disappointedly as his arrow breaks as it bounces off the creature ineffectively.
Round 1, Init 14
Know (Planes)
"Gah! That surely must be evil, Yeenoghu! Next time, we will chomp it and rend it with our teeth!" Ami whispers to Yeen, wishing they had one chance at the beast as it flies away.
Yeenoghu bristles, his back arching high even with The One clutching to him tightly. An odd sound, part hiss, part howl, all fear and loathing, growls deep in his chest. He weaves back and forth, but gets no closer without word from The One. Occasionally, his teeth snap, as if in answer to Ami's whisper, and his howl turns to a quick high pitched chirp before returning once again to its low cautious rumble.
Round: 1, Initiative: 13
Weapon Equipped = Guisarme
Conditions = None
Smite Evil = 2/2 (+2 attack, +4 damage, +2 AC)
Lay on Hands = 4/4 (2d6 healing +1d6 if not fatigued)
Spells (caster level 1, concentration +3)
1) Hero's Defiance
Aldebert drops his Guisarme, draws his crossbow, and loads it. He tries to keep an eye on the flying creature, but flying and invisible likely means freedom for the evil thing - whatever it was.
He shakes his crossbow at it as it flies away. ”Damn sneaky thing. It’s evil all right. Evil and deserving of our attention. We should ask the boy, when he wakes up,” he looks at Kul, ”and see if he knows where it might lair.”